Pre-Dental (PDDS)

Pre-Dental (PDDS)

Academic Preparation for Admission into Texas Dental Programs

There are three dental schools in Texas, all public institutions. All three dentals schools have a four-year professional curriculum. Career options include: general dentistry; dental public health; endodontics; oral & maxillofacial pathology, radiology, or surgery; orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics; pediatric dentistry; periodontics; and prosthodontics.

Dental Schools require no specific academic major, but do require a core of 14 hours biology, 8 hours inorganic chemistry, 8 hours organic chemistry, 8 hours physics, and 6 hours of English. Most students find additional science coursework to be beneficial in performing well on the DAT exam. All prerequisite courses must be Science Major credible. Dental Schools of other states may have a different slate of core requirements. Most dental colleges do not accept AP credit to meet admission requirements. All Natural Science majors are efficient pathways to medical colleges. If you choose a major outside of the Physical and Biological Science areas you must include the basic science requirements for dental school along with satisfying requirements appropriate for your major. A widespread misconception suggesting it is necessary to major in a science, especially biology, or that dental schools prefer science majors is not accurate. The truth is that a majority of dental school applicants are natural science majors, but any academic major is suitable and acceptable for dental school as long as the prerequisite coursework is complete.

Serious students seeking dental career opportunities should seek advisement from the Office of Medical & Allied Health Programs. The specialized sequence of coursework meets basic prerequisite needs of the Texas dental programs within the scope of a generalized natural science major and minor. This approach provides the greatest flexibility for alternative strategies should they be necessary.

The pre-dental curriculum listed here serves to as a guide for the biology major / chemistry minor. Other academic majors and minors can be used, but may require more coursework than the usual 120-hour baccalaureate.